Dong-A ST will apply its artificial intelligence (AI)-based antibody design technology to the development of new drugs in the form of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The company plans to use AI to design antibodies from scratch for novel targets that currently lack approved treatments, and to combine these with Dong-A ST's linker and payload technologies to discover new ADC candidate compounds.
Dong-A ST announced on the 1st that it has signed a joint research agreement with AI drug discovery company Galux for the development of new ADCs. The two companies will combine Dong-A ST's ADC development capabilities with Galux's AI-based antibody design technology to discover novel target ADC candidate compounds.
An ADC is a therapeutic agent that links an antibody, which recognizes a specific target, with a payload, a drug that kills cancer cells, via a linker. The characteristics and combination of each component—the antibody, the linker, and the payload—determine its competitiveness. Among these, the antibody plays a crucial role in selectively recognizing desired targets, such as cancer cells, and delivering the drug.
In this joint research, Galux will use its AI protein design platform, 'GaluxDesign,' to design antibody candidates for ADC application using a de novo approach. Rather than optimizing existing antibodies as a starting point, this method combines the physicochemical principles of proteins with AI technology to design protein structures and sequences with desired functions and characteristics from scratch.
Galux will derive novel antibody candidates with target recognition properties suitable for therapeutic development by reflecting the structural and functional characteristics of the target protein. The goal is to design antibody candidates that are difficult to secure through conventional experimental-based antibody discovery methods.
Dong-A ST will apply its proprietary ADC technology to the antibody candidates designed by Galux. Leveraging its accumulated ADC-based technologies and expertise in linker and payload development, the company will evaluate the applicability of the antibody candidates to ADCs and proceed with the development of subsequent candidate compounds.
The two companies plan to use this collaboration to validate the potential for ADC development against novel targets that have not yet been developed into therapeutics. The goal is to develop the candidate compounds discovered through the joint research into best-in-class new drugs.
Galux has been developing protein design technologies, including antibodies, based on GaluxDesign. The company holds technology that designs proteins tailored to specific disease targets based on protein structure and interactions, while also considering various physical properties required for therapeutic development to derive candidate compounds.
Park Tae-yong, CEO of Galux, stated, "This collaboration is a case demonstrating that Galux's de novo antibody design technology can be applied to complex modalities such as ADCs." He added, "We will contribute to differentiated new drug development by deriving antibody candidates that are difficult to secure through traditional experimental-based antibody discovery technologies."
Oh Yun-seok, Vice President of Dong-A ST, said, "By applying AI-based antibody design technology to ADC research and development, we expect to more systematically validate the development potential for novel targets." He added, "Based on the ADC development capabilities accumulated by Dong-A ST, we will secure competitive candidate compounds and develop them into best-in-class new drugs."
in THEBIO
